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Season's over. Czechs at the Winter Olympics!

The world mixed doubles champions are from Scotland (Mouat, Dodds), the silver goes to the Norwegians and the bronze to Sweden. But! At the very end of this year's crazy curling season, the Czech colours pulled off a hat trick. And that is to qualify for the Olympic mixed doubles tournament! The pair Zuzana and Tomáš Paul finished fourth in their group of ten, qualifying them for the added match of the 2021 World Mixed Doubles Championship, in which they directly fought for participation in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In a thrilling match, the last stone was decided by the Americans, who finished in a worse position than the two Czechs in the finishing circles, and Zuzana Paulova (formerly Hajkova) was able to give vent to her emotions. The Pauls had come close to participating in the Winter Olympics four years ago, but ran into the Swiss in the semi-final match of the 2017 World Championships, whom they narrowly lost to, and the final fourth place was not enough to qualify for the Olympics. This year is different. A solid performance by both players secured a number of important wins, such as against Russia or Germany, and the experience and mental resilience of the Czech players, who have specialised in the mixed doubles category for many years, was on display in the end. Both Zuzana and Tomas are among the Czech curling elite thanks to several medals they have already won in the past. Together they have a bronze from the mixed doubles category from 2013. In 2012, Tomáš was there for the men's bronze medal at the Winter Universiade and in the same year Zuzana led the junior women's team to silver at the World Championships.

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Czech curling is rejoicing because the desire, unfulfilled by previous generations, to see the Czech flag in an Olympic curling hall now has real substance. At the end of the year, it will be decided whether our mixed doubles pair will be accompanied by one of the national teams (men, women) that will strive to fulfill their chances in the Olympic qualifiers. One third of the work is done to perfection, so let's finish the remaining two!

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photo: Zuzana Hájková (Paulová), Tomáš Paul